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When to Plant Liatris in East Alton, IL

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

By checking out the USDA zone info for East Alton you should be able to figure out when it's a good idea to plant liatris.


Planting Calendar for Liatris

Frost tolerance for liatris: Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant: Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Since liatris are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant liatris
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant liatris
Probably not a good time to plant liatris

The earliest that you can plant liatris in East Alton is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant liatris and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your liatris may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your liatris indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in East Alton. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for East Alton and it is different every year. Half of the time in East Alton last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your liatris if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for East Alton

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-10°F
Highest Expected Low-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in East Alton

You may be interested in your other planting guides for East Alton.